Clamping device



April 3, 1945. SHAVER 2,372,987

CLAMPING DEVICE Filed April 12, 1943 Inventor;

Daniel L.Shaven,

His Attorney.

Patented Apr. i945 STATES PATENT orrlcs a -l.' DEVICE Daniel L. Shaver,

Schenectady, N. Y., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application April 12, rags, Serial No. 482,711

2 Claims. (or. 173-328) I vide a new and improved holding structure for electric discharge devices which is capable of supporting the discharge device to withstand substantial mechanical shock and vibration, that is, which maintains the discharge device firmly in position" in an associated socket without deleteriously afiecting the discharge device or the supporting structure.

Briefly stated, in the illustrated embodiments of my invention, I provide a new and improved clamping or supporting structure for elements or articles, such as electric discharge devices, and

which by virtue of its unique configuration and method of construction is capable oi accommodating discharge devices having a variety of configurations or structures.

More particularly, I provide a resilient metallic ring preferably formed by a stamping or punching operation from a metallic sheet or plate of substantially rectangular form, and which is provided with a. centrally located aperture through which a part of the discharge device extends. Terminal prongs of the electric discharge device to be held or positioned are supported by a socket which, in turn, is seated in an aperture of a base member or plate. The resilient ring is attached to the plate member, preferably at diametral points, and the intermediate sections of the formed ring are bent up to provide resilient arms, exerting opposing forces on the discharge device.

For a better understanding of my invention, reference may be had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my invention showing a base or supporting plate, the positioning clamp or ring and a socket adapted to receive terminal prongs of a discharge device; Fig. 2 is a vertical view of the manner in which the supporting tructure serves to position the above mentioned type of discharge device having a flanged part between the envelope and the base thereof; and Fig. 3 shows the manner in which the supporting ring serves to position' an electric discharge device 01 the type having a glass envelope and a cylindrical base part, such as a metallic, plastic or molded base.

Referring now to Fig. 1, I provide a base plate 6 which may be constructed either'of metal or a sumoiently rigid plastic composition, and which supports and positions an electric discharge device or tube socket 2 provided with a plurality of annularly spaced openings 3 adapted to re- .ceive terminal prongs of a discharge device, and

having an enlarged central opening d adapted to receive an orientation protuberance of the discharge device. Upon the base plate l, I provide a resilient holding frame member or ring 8 which is preferably attached to the plate I at diametric points. This attachment to the plate i may be accomplished by any suitable means, and for the purpose of illustration I have chosen to show a pair of bolts 6 and 7 which extend through plate I, Intermediate the bolts 6 and 1, ring 5 is bent up to afford a pair of opposing resilient arms 8 and 9 so that the arms, upon insertion of an electric discharge device through the centrally located aperture l0 are pressed outwardly, thereby exerting opposing or retaining forces on a part of the discharge device. The arms 8 and 9 are positioned or formed so that the inner knife-like edges of arms 8 and 9 provided by aperture Ill contact, at least in part, a portion of the base of the discharge device, thereby maintaining the discharge device firmly in position so that it is capable of withstanding shock and vibration.

As a means for relieving the pressure exerted by the ring 5 on the base of the discharge device, the arms 8 and 9 are formed to have substantially horizontal flared tongue parts II and i2. By exerting downward forces on parts H and I2, the pressure exerted by arms 8 and 9, and particularly that due to the contact knife-edges, is relieved from the base of the discharge device so that the device may be readily removed from the socket 2, With some types of discharge devices the exertion of downward forces on parts II and I2 is suflicient to cause an extraction of the discharge device from the socket without pulling the discharge device from a, separate operation.

The flared tongue parts II and I2, by virtue of their configuration, also serve an additional purpose. By proper bending of the parts II and I2 in the forming process, these parts serve to establish the desired degree of resilience and direction of curvature of arms 8 and 9.

The metallic ring 5 may be formed in a variety the socket by of ways. One manner in which ring 5 may be formed is from a metallic plate of substantially rectangular or square shape and in which the centrally located aperture i0 is formed by a stamping or punching operation. Thereafter or concurrently therewith, the ring I may be bent by a stamping operation to attain the configuration shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 illustrates one manner in which the supporting structure shown in Fig. 1 may be employed for accommodating an electric discharge device it having a metallic envelope is sealed or Joined to a base it by means of a juncture of horizontally extending flanges it. The base part It supports a plurality of downwardly extending terminal prongs is illustrated for the purpose of clarity. The socket 2, previously described, by virtue of a shoulder of larger diameter than the aperture in plate I seats upon the upper surface of plate i and the socket 2 is maintained firmly in position by suitable resilient or spring means, such as an annular resilient washer l8, which engages a shoulder IQ of the socket and the undersurface of plate i.

The adaptability of the above described supporting structure to electric discharge devices of both the metallic and glass envelope types may be more readily appreciated by referring to Fig. 3, wherein an electric discharge device 20 having a vitreous or glass envelope 2| and a cylindrical base part 22 is shown in position after insertion into socket 2. The base part 22 is cylindrical in form and supports a plurality of downwardly extending terminal prongs 23, only one of which is illustrated. The planes of arms 8 and 8, as shown in Fig. l, are established by the position of these arms so that suflicient bearing surface is eflective against diametric points of the cylindrical base part 22, thereby holding the discharge device firmly in position. Alternatively, the contact between the base 22 and the ring 5 may be made exclusively by the inner knife-edges of arms 8 and 8.

While I have shown and described my invention as applicable to electric discharge devices of particular form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from my invention, and

ii,'only one of whichline provided with a substantially circular aperture, means securing said stamping to said plate at points near the opposite ends of one diagonal of said stamping, said stamping being bent upwardly at an angle to the surface of said plate on each side of asid diagonal to provide opposed resilient arms adapted to engage said device at points on the other diagonal of said stamping. said stamping having a portion on each extremity of said other diagonal bent out of the plane of the resilient arm with which it is associated to increase the rigidity of said arms in the region of engagement with said device.

2. In a supporting structure for a device having a generally cylindrical base portion, the combination comprising a supporting plate and a resilient sheet metal member having a substantially circular aperture formed therein, means securing said member to said plate at opposite ends of one diameter of said aperture, said member being bent upwardly at an angle to the surface of said plate on each side of said diameter to provide opposed resilient arms adapted to engage said device at the extremities of another diameter of said aperture substantially perpendicular to said first diameter, said member being of noncircular cross section, so that the cross sectional area of the arms between the regions of engagement with said device and the regions at which the member is secured to said plate are smaller than the cross sectional areas at the regions of engagement with the device so that deformations of said member due to forces on the device do not occur at the regions of engagement with the device.

DANIEL L. SHAVER. 

